Is it just me or is the OP kinda breaking NDA. The mods seem to be way more mild lately.

DAoC had BGs

I don't get it. Of course it's an MMO. That's what they set out to create. But saying it's "just another MMO" is nonsense, because it ignores all the differences between ESO and run-of-the-mill, current gen MMOs.

SWTOR was one of the best mmo experiences I've ever had. I hit 50 quickly by 2 manning everything with myself and a friend, both stealthers, one healer one tanker.. it was brilliant. Then I spent the next couple months being the servers raid boss in pvp. Loved the operative, loved the vanilla wow style server community, loved the overall atmosphere of the game. Loved bumping into people datacron hunting, loved so many of the small things in that game and would probably still play it if the local server were alive.

I could like ESO if I tried hard, but there's nothing drawing me in.

I'm the opposite--I despise TOR and now EA for that game.

I can relate somewhat to the OP, but reinventing the wheel is not necessarily what a new MMO needs. I am slightly in the same boat. I consider myself a MMO vet in that I've played a great deal of MMOs. It is something that is hard to define - MMO burnout? I am excited about ESO. I like what I have seen so far. Honestly, what will keep me playing is content and immersion. I should never feel "done" with most of the content. There should always be something to work towards - not just one thing...several things. Work on crafting, skills, dungeons to get materials/loot. Mini-games!!!

With all the (sanctioned) media coverage lately? Hardly...

I mostly agree with the OP: What we (I) wanted was an open world MMO, with exploration, housing and deep crafting/customization features on one hand and a deep, engaging, but all together OPTIONAL story on the other hand... so, basically an TES game that can be experienced with/against other people... you know: The perfect blend between sandbox and themepark MMO, that would have been revolutionary.

What we will get is a an all together generic themepark MMO that looks and feels like a TES game, while keeping many of the basic problems and contrivances of other games in the genre.... exploration, first person view, and all those TES "stuff", while intriguing at first, quickly are revealed to be pointless window dressing.

You find chest in remote places, but they mostly contain random/generic stuff, on par with what you can buy from vendors or get though crafting

You can loot anything in the world, but without the consequences that has in a TES game

You see your own hands in first person mode, but there is no collision detection whatsoever so it all feels floaty and akward

Ignore all that, und all that remains is: Follow your quest chains (markers) from one limited zone to the next until endgame... like ANY other MMO.

That being said: I like the game, I really do: The character systems seem to be solid and for the most part, the TES "illusion" is working... but I really hope ZOE have a good backup plan for when the sub model fails.

Sounds to me like you got all but one... ?

It looks like you were looking for a multiplayer TES game. That's not how MMOs work. Different revenue models. ESO can work but I think keeping the traditional TES fans happy in an MMO setting with unique quests lines and lore will cost more in terms of ZOS's resources ($) than keeping the pvpers in Cyrodiil happy over time.

Well, yes and no: Personally, I think one of the biggest mistakes ZOS is making with this game, is that they try to make every players experience to be the same, basic TES "from-prisoner-to-savior-of-the-world" storyline, totally disregarding how... strange that feels in a multiplayer setting, while they ie. could have gone totally over board with different origin stories/lead ins, to make the experience much more... personal for every player... alas, like everything else, that will not happen, because it is not fair, and everything not fair is a potential balancing problem in pvp.

But I digress: Seeing how bigger IPs went f2p in no time because they could not keep their audience playing a couple of months after release, and how some testers - already - call the game boring (in BETA) I reall hope your are right, and ZOS made the right desition, since, in my experience: The general MMO crowd these days is not as persistent/easily entertained for a long period of time, as the general TES (offline RPG) enthusiast, so caterig to them could be ultimatly futile anyhow...

We don't need unique quest lines etc nor a multiplayer TES game.

A ) I could settle with free-roaming and having to discover the quests suited for my levels myself and travel through zones trying my capabilities from the start. Some would be impossible to achieve at a lower level because the enemies would be, say, daedra/atronachs, but that would be fine.

The above VS:

B ) You are put in an area, play on a designated path with other players, railroadin' through quests from zone A to zone B and so on, killing level 1 atronachs at level 1 areas.

I agree. I personally would prefer to be a generic guard that had taken an arrow to the knee in the past and decided to go back into action.

Being the chosen one in a game where everyone along with you go from point A to point B and then to point C and so on just doesn't work that well.

Now you're probably going to poop your pants for what im going to say but

WoW did that in many ways.

True. They were clever, innovative and had balls. All that without serious up-to-date competition. And they succeeded.

I kinda felt the same way about SWTOR, problem is the endgame was pathetic. So I lost interest in that game because, ultimately, it was meaningless. Whereas with this game, you have serious open world PvP (which SWTOR desperately needs), and that alone should be all the "draw" someone needs for this game. Also the pve - it's the only MMO where I enjoy the PvE - in every other MMO it's dull, repetitive, and tedious. Crafting has also never been attractive to me in any other MMO, but this dynamic crafting system svcks me in.

So in nearly ever category, I think ESO is very interesting, and better than it's competition. My only major concern is the mega server. I think this game would be literally perfect if there were instanced dungeons and separate RP, PvE, PvP, and RP-PvP servers.

Yea... in practically inventing the theme park MMO... but WoWs time is long past now, as it's game concepts.

well ESO is in a good spot i would say as wow is the only competition out there. granted they have been a juggernaut so who knows but there is no other worth while mmo right now

One might think so, problem is, ESO, like any other MMO before it, is going the lazy way in beating WOW at it's own game... not very wise. Given, it has it's own merits that put it apart... but so had SWTOR... and TERA... and Aion... and DDO... and LotRO... and... you get my meaning.

To be honest, I consider Rift, a free to play mmorpg better than Wow. It's an improved Wow clone. Same with Tera which has targeted combat and many, many others. DDO, Neverwinter, SWTOR, LotRO, AOC, Aion and more that don't come to mind atm. There is a lot of competition in the market and most of it is F2P. That's the reason most reviews seem negative.

Well I think everyone agree that came out of the starter zone, that it were a hell of a change and making judgement like the reviewers from the first impression from there is not a fair aspect of the game.

That said, have fun playing something else I will enjoy this very much

to me all those games are way behind ESO. i mention wow because its massive however wow has a lot of people looking for the next good mmo

Exactly... the only way to "beat" WoW is, to not compeat with it at all, like EVE Online does and Everquest Next will do... in having a completly different concept. That's something ZOS COULD have done with ESO too, but they didn't... that's why I fear for the game.

YES!

I don't fear for the game ... I think it a huge disappointment. I'm not really invested in how the game does.

But I wanted this game to be different. The solo games feel different from most other rpg titles - better. This just feels like another MMO with TES stuff stuck on it. Then looking at the landmasses and the environments and I like what I see. Very expansive and fun to run around - then combat starts and it is like every other darn MMO. What a drag.

Of course... so they can jump on it and svck it dry of content in no time, then complain and whine about it, only to return to WoW for the next expansion. This MMO crowd is NOT what you wnat your game to attract...

ESO might be superior to WoW and all it's "offspring" (only that it even isn't, since it has many MMO problems WOW long since has eliminated)... but the mere fact that it even HAS to be, pretty much spells it's doom...

Wow capitilized on MMO design due to its' simplicity, violent Disney nostalgia fetish, and had no expectations other than basic fantasy lore produced from warcraft 3,2 and 1.

Essentially it came into the market with very little expectations - by design. This is why I usually think most MMORPG's focusing on story driven aspects leave a sour taste of mediocrity, regardless of the delivery.

I'm still waiting for a high budget fantasy MMORPG to make a non-linear, non-story driven game; being an ecosystem of player contracts, medieval gang and/or faction warfare etc but, I digress.

ESO has done well with its dialogue, scenery and general story though; I'm impressed.

In what way is the combat so different from TES? Just wondering your pov sincw I think it is pretty similar, apart from having softlock.